1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a capacitor, and more particularly, to a method for fabricating a metal-insulator-metal capacitor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In semiconductor manufacturing processes, metal capacitors formed of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) are widely used in the design of ultra large scale integrations (ULSI). Because a MIM capacitor has low resistance and low parasitic capacitance, and has no problems in shifts of depletion induced voltage, MIM capacitors have become the main structure used for metal capacitors. It is therefore important to develop a MIM capacitor that comprises copper electrodes with low resistance.
Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 are schematic views of forming a metal capacitor 26 on a semiconductor wafer 10 according to the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, the semiconductor wafer 10 includes a substrate 11, and a dielectric layer 12 positioned on the substrate 11. In the prior art method, a metal bottom plate 14, composed of an aluminum layer, is evenly formed on the surface of the dielectric layer 12. An insulation layer and another metal layer are then respectively deposited on the surface of the metal bottom plate 14. A lithographic process is performed to define the patterns of a metal upper plate 18, and the excess portions of metal layer and insulation layer are removed to form the inter-metal insulator (IMI) 16 and the metal upper plate 18 so as to finish the formation of the metal capacitor 26.
As shown in FIG. 2, an inter-metal dielectric (IMD) layer 20 covers the metal capacitor 26, and a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process is used to planarize the surface of the inter-metal dielectric layer 20. A photoresist layer (not shown) is coated on the surface of the inter-metal dielectric layer 20, and a lithographic process is performed to define the position of via holes 28. The excess portions of the photoresist layer are then removed, and a dry etching process is performed, using the residual photoresist layer as a mask. The inter-metal dielectric layer 20 that is not covered by the mask is removed so as to form the via holes 28. The residual photoresist layer is then stripped.
A sputtering process is performed to form a metal layer (not shown) that fills the via holes 28. Either an etching back process or a chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) process is then performed to remove portions of the metal layer, so as to make a surface of the metal layer in the via holes 28 aligned with a surface of the inter-metal dielectric layer 20, forming the via plugs 22. A metal layer (not shown) is then evenly deposited on the surface of the inter-metal dielectric layer 20, and an etching process is performed to form a metal wire 24 on top of the via plugs 22. The via plugs 22 are used to electrically connect the metal wire 24 and the metal capacitor 26.
With the increasing complexity of integrated circuits, the multilevel interconnect process has become the typical method used in semiconductor integrated circuit fabrication. To satisfy the requirements for high integration and high speed in integrated circuits (ICs), especially in a deep sub-micro (<0.18 μm) semiconductor process, a copper (Cu) dual damascene process is becoming more widely used as a standard process in forming an interconnection line within the inter-metal dielectric layer of low dielectric constant (low k) materials. Since copper has both a low resistance and a low electromigration resistance, the low k materials are useful in improving the RC delay effect of a metal interconnection. Consequently, how to integrate copper fabrication processes to fabricate MIM capacitors and internal metal wires with low resistance has become a key research topic in this field.